The Collecting Bug

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Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,666
McBride, BC
You used to be a hoarder before your pile fell on you.
I think that collectors differ as they must keep inventories, lists of what they have.

Of course I have Himalayan pink salt. Could I remember until I saw it again? No!
I got a great lead for English Malden salt, looks just like Cyprus Flake
and, they sell a smoke version, too.

One of these days, I'll make a list.
 

Fadcode

Full Member
Feb 13, 2016
2,857
894
Cornwall
Of course I am serious and Joking,, I hope one day the weight will be too much to bear, and I may have to visit the Bank.:wink::wink:
I also collect knives, watches, and normal Art,
 
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Tengu

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
12,806
1,533
51
Wiltshire
Here we have the Cornish Sea Salt company.

Selling a highly processed natural product (Sodium metal and Chlorine gas; two of the most fun elements on the Periodic table) at high prices that you can probably live without.

(I wont talk about their environment credentials, -its baffling. Suffice to say, they say they are an environmentaly friendly company)

(Is a product you dont need enviromentaly friendly?)

Have you any, Robson valley? I have half a tub was given.

The slugs dont like it and I cant say I am keen either
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,989
4,638
S. Lanarkshire
The history, and archaeology, of salt making is fascinating. Out on the Forth estuary we have sea coal fields, and in the past they were exploited by the monks, who kept 'indentured servants'....Scotland's last slaves really.... who boiled down sea water in big wide pans to make salt.
The trade developed over the centuries though it mostly stopped in 1823 when it became cheaper to use the English rock salt instead.
Scottish seasalt was Scotland's white gold, and our third most lucrative export for a while.
 
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GuestD

Need to contact Admin...
Feb 10, 2019
1,445
700
I used to have a collection of vintage motorcycles which I built up over the years. After seeing what happens to others with similar when their numbers up, and the "vultures" move in, and the stress it puts on families, I got rid of them all and bought a scooter. No regrets either.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,294
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
No doubt most of it went up to Lofoten?
It must have been the closest salt source.

A thought: could that have been one of the reasons the Norse traded with that area? Later a tiny little bit of raiding?
Salt was hugely precious, and became even more so once the Norse started exporting salted dried Screi Cod. Bacalao.
 

Billy-o

Native
Apr 19, 2018
1,981
975
Canada
I had no idea there was such a thing as good tasting salt until I went to Sipan .. an island just of the coast of Croatia. One of those trips that just buries itself in your mind. Anyway, there is a Roman period saltworks there. Still operates. The salt is amazing. Wish we'd brought back a lot more. Tried to eke it out, but there is only so much eking one can do.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,294
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
I had no idea there was such a thing as good tasting salt until I went to Sipan .. an island just of the coast of Croatia. One of those trips that just buries itself in your mind. Anyway, there is a Roman period saltworks there. Still operates. The salt is amazing. Wish we'd brought back a lot more. Tried to eke it out, but there is only so much eking one can do.
We have three salts at home, random buys.
Mortons with Iodine
Alessi seasalt
A Polish salt son bought in a salt mine in Poland.
We did a little ’clinical test’ of the taste.
As the taste buds can be fooled by tasting differently due to grain size and shape, we crushed each one in a marble thingie, then sieved.
Mortons tasted really nasty, strong, almost a burning feel
Alessi was strong, but pleasant.
The Polish rocksalt was like velvet, salty but really gentle on the tongue.

Weird. NaCl is NaCl? Not much of other salts should be there?
Apparently yes.
I believe Mortons is also seasalt, from an evaporation site on an Caribbean island.
Alessi is Italian seasalt, so both should taste identical. The Iodine destroys the taste of Morton maybe?
The Polish salt is also seasalt, but millions of years old.

I always believed all salt tasted virtually the same, but what a huge, huge difference there is....
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,666
McBride, BC
Salts, particularly the artisan salts, are all dramatically different.
Even the ocean is not uniform in the least.
I'd expect trace nitrates and chlorates as well as potassium chloride, maybe some calcium chloride, too..
Take a look at the quantity of gold per cubic meter of sea water. Look it up.

Two things are going to happen:
1. Crystallization of the sodium chloride AND various imputities as defects in the crystals.
2. The final drying of those crystals with various residues in the pans.

How were the crystals developed over time and temperature?
Have you seen the hollow salt pyramid crystals from Cyprus or Malden in the UK?
Those, I would like to watch being harvested.
Pickling and preserving salt? Table salt? Food prep salt(s)? Finishing salts?

Then there's the additives.
Iodine is not uncommon, we need it for proper thyroid function and this delivery is simple.
Don't object about its inclusion as an essential micronutrient.
Other smokes and flavorings are mostly smokes, maybe some dried and crushed berries or garlic, even dried mushrooms, etc.
Matiz is Spanish smoked Mediterranean salt, almost greasy. A little goes a very long way in food prep.

I have maybe 6(?) in the kitchen, depends on what I make to eat.
I must dig out all the other newer ones and ponder how to use them.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,294
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
You should try yo get hold of the Polish rock salt.
The mine is called Wieliczka, no commrrcial production anymore, but you can buy small bags of the salt there. Maybe over the internet too.
We used Maldon in UK, have an unopened box, do not want to open it until we run out of the Polish salt.
Hygroscopic as you know.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,666
McBride, BC
I already have the Polish mine salt, thanks. Polish people gave me some.
Might turn my attention to South America, see what they have.

If you want laboratory grade pure sodium chloride, or very close to it, look no further than the Sifto Salt
mine in Unity, Sask., Canada. It's a solution mine using hot water then surface crystallization.
Doesn't taste like much of anything so easy to use far too much.
The impurities, chemicals beyond just the sodium chloride, make the taste in the others.
I'm sure that I can buy beach tar, creosote and diesel if I look for them.
 

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,294
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
And microbeads of various plastics, a modern addition to seasalt.

Salt created a lot of wealth and contributed to a rich culture in central Europe.
Austria, Bohemia, Poland.

Plus other countries too of course. Sweden had to import the stuff.
 

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